THIS RESTAURANT IS CLOSED Rae

THIS RESTAURANT IS CLOSED Rae Restaurant Review:

First, there was Gayle, the innovative American restaurant conceived by chef Daniel Stern near South Street. With the opening of Rae, a modern American brasserie in Philly’s prismatic skyscraper adjacent to 30th Street Station, Stern has made another culinary leap. The lobby restaurant is light-filled and airy, a natural jumping off point for powerbrokers arriving from Manhattan or D.C. Stern’s creative menu includes droll takes on bar food (rabbit nachos with jalapeño crème fraîche, truffle pizza, venison cheesesteak) along with clever studies of a single ingredient, as in the luscious “snapper, snapper soup,” a heady composition of grilled red snapper, saffron-scented fish dumplings and a beer-infused citrusy fumet. Descriptions are minimalist, but servers are happy to interpret. Try the exotically spiced rack of lamb with its satisfying crust of spicy harissa and chickpeas. For dessert, more riffs on a theme---as in warm maple-spiked banana french toast. The wine list is impressive, including 200-plus selections and more than 30 by the glass.